Authors: Dimitra Kaika, Efthimios Zervas

Title: ANALYSIS OF THE RESOURCE DECOUPLING INDEX AND OF THE IMPACT DECOUPLING INDEX IN THE TRANSPORT SECTOR UNDER THE ENVIRONMENTAL KUZNETS CURVE RERSPECTIVE IN EU-15

Abstract

The structure of modern economies is characterized by strong interdependence between energy consumption and economic growth, while any increase in the national product leads to increased CO₂ emissions. Under the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis (EKC), further economic growth could lead to a deceleration of the environmental degradation and of CO₂ emissions in particular. Nevertheless, this hypothesis is neither confirmed nor rejected adequately in the empirical literature. Many studies already indicate a strong interdependence between the growth of the transport sector and economic growth in modern economies. However,the improvement of energy efficiency is not confirmed in the transport sector which is based primarily upon non-renewable resources, thus increasing CO₂ emissions. Furthermore, the current economic crisis seems to inhibit any progress in improving energy efficiency over time. The present study employs a resource decoupling index and an impact decoupling index to address whether significant changes in resource use and impact (CO₂ emissions) in the transport sector appears among the EU-15 over the 1990-2013 period. Using appropriate data, the period is divided in three consecutive time intervals in order to trace the effect of the economic crisis on the resource use and impact (CO₂ emissions) of the transport sector.